Notts gritters prepare for big freeze

Nottinghamshire’s gritting teams will be out gritting the main routes and severe weather routes across the county tonight with road temperatures set to fall below freezing.

Gritting teams are monitoring the situation closely and looking at weather forecasts and local weather station reports and there could be some sleet overnight and tomorrow morning.

The data is monitored from Via East Midlands’ Newark deport – Via is managing highways services on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council as they work in partnership on the ongoing annual winter planning preparations.

Garry Chadburn, electrical and environmental maintenance manager at Via East Midlands, said: “We will be out gritting the main routes and severe weather routes tonight and will be monitoring the weather situation by the hour and responding as necessary over the next couple of days too.”

Looking further ahead, the MET Office suggests that there could be a band of rain, sleet and a little snow (with snow mainly in hilly areas) on Thursday night with the potential for icy stretches on the roads with freezing road temperatures. At this stage, subject to changing conditions later this week, with potential for possible sleet and snow showers the gritting teams could be out on Friday night and into the weekend too.

The council and Via East Midlands are working with district and parish councils to ensure the maximum practical winter support can be provided to communities across the county.

Here are some key facts about our gritting teams:

• Around 200 tonnes of rock salt are used for each gritting run

• 1,120 miles of Nottinghamshire’s roads are covered by the gritting network – further than driving from Land’s End to John O’Groats

• We have 23 permanent drivers and 46 drivers on standby from November to March

• We stockpile 20,000 tonnes of salt at the start of the winter – well above Government recommendations

• Salt is distributed from its four depots across the county – based at Markham Moor, Bilsthorpe, Newark and Gamston.

In addition to salting roads, the council and Via East Midlands provide, maintain and fill around 1,380 roadside grit bins across the county for use by local communities on pavements and roads (not private driveways).

In the event of bad weather, do you have a plan as to how to get to work or your chosen destination? Be prepared and plan your route with help using the gritting routes – check the online maps: www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/gritting

You can see more winter weather alerts and information by following our Twitter account www.twitter.com/nottscc